


Guiding Light

by Living_Free



Series: Slip and Slide [15]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Dami loves his Grayson the most, Damian Wayne is learning magic, Damian investigates, Dick enrolled him for classes with Raven, Dick lives his best life, Elements and Lore, Gen, Jason is denied cookies, Magic, Secretly magical Dick Grayson, Wise Raven, bruce disapproves, but no one cares lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-13
Updated: 2018-11-13
Packaged: 2019-08-23 00:46:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16608620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Living_Free/pseuds/Living_Free
Summary: There was something about Dick Grayson.Damian had long thought that Dick was just a rather fantastic person, but lately, he had begun to suspect a deeper meaning to his brother's excellence. Nothing bad, mind you. Grayson could never be bad. Just...Things didn't quite add up.





	Guiding Light

There was something about Dick Grayson. 

Damian had long thought that Dick was just a rather fantastic person, but lately, he had begun to suspect a deeper meaning to his brother's excellence. Nothing bad, mind you. Grayson could never be bad. Just...

Things didn't quite add up. 

And so, Damian, Son of The Bat, Most Beloved of Grayson, investigated.

***

In his study of the Dark Arts under the tutelage of Raven, Damian had learnt of many supernatural beings. Raven was a half-demoness, and she was perfectly normal. In fact, Damian would say that she was rather refined - after all, she had befriended Grayson as a young teenager, and clearly had a strong bond with her first friend, as evidenced by her agreeing to tutor Damian upon a single call from Dick. 

Indeed, with a little digging and a rather informative call to his grandfather, Damian had found out that no even he was devoid of supernatural heritage. It had long been rumored that his most illustrious Grandmother had been a full blooded demoness, but Damian had dismissed the rumors as hearsay. R'as had gleefully clarified Damian's doubts - his Grandmother had indeed been a demoness - Melisande, the Supreme Demoness of The Seventh Circle of Fire. 

She and R'as had met as starry eyed youngsters and had fallen madly, deeply, in love. She gave him three children - Talia, Nyssa, and Dusan - before returning to the Nether dimension and leaving her husband a pining man. 

R'as had spent ten minutes detailing his escapades with his wife. Damian was educated and horrified. 

The demons were not inherently evil, mind you. They had a thriving society and civilization, and their usual dabble in evil involved coming up with excruciatingly long trade treaties for no other reason than to bother the angels. 

Now, the angels. 

The angels also existed, and tended to not have much to do with non-celestial beings. After a few failed tries to say hello to some living beings on various planets, they decided that organic beings were scary and loud, and that they wanted to go home and be intangible photons somewhere near the Sun. Occasionally, a curious little angel would peak out from over a cloud, manifesting as a ray of light, only to be quickly yanked back into the Ether by its harried elder. 

But these were beings born of forces inexplicable supernatural magic, beings from other dimensions. What of the beings of the tangible universe? All of those fleshy, sinewy, clever, emotional creatures that populated the infinite galaxies and learned to live and laugh and cry and love?

Before them, there had been nature. Trees grew unfettered, seas lashed shorelines, volcanoes erupted, and wind howled through all of these with careless abandon. It was pure. Elemental, untouched. It was chaos and it was peace, it was fire and it was earth, and through these things, something rather wonderful was born.

Magic.

The magic of the elements - of earth, air, fire, and water, dancing to a tune of nature, occasionally poking and prodding one another for a spot of fun, because Fire was just so fun to rile up. They made bacteria to crawl upon Earth, then smaller organisms, just because they could, and Water was very competitive, so she made sure that her fishes could walk on land too, take that Earth.

Earth was patient her her siblings. She just sighed and prodded the little fish that had found its way onto land towards some food.

For a long time, the Elements worked their unique brand of magic, and life flourished everywhere the deigned to visit. However, they did have a certain problem child. 

The planet Gaea, or as we now call it, Earth. 

While the Elements had been busy with the rest of the galaxy, Earth had evolved humans. And humans were good, so very good. The Elements watched in wonder as humans learned to master each of the gifts the Elements gave them, and progressed at unprecedented speeds for a species so young.

And then things went wrong. 

They used their gifts for evil, and corrupted each other. They corrupted Nature, and Earth took it the hardest. Fire was vengeful for his sister, as was Water. They punished the humans, but somehow, they continued on. Air trapped heat in the atmosphere with the very things used to pollute it. But the humans did not learn. 

The humans continued to build and corrupt Nature, and the magic of the Elements were hurt. Eventually, the malevolence of the humans took on it's own magic - Dark magic. The darkness settled in a land, growing and pulsing like a vortex of gloom. And yet, the good humans tried to tame the evil force into submission. The Elements, so far beaten back by this new malevolent energy, dared to hope again.

The good humans called their reclaimed land Gotham, and made their lives there. But the Evil born of the bad humans did not fade. It stayed in Gotham, and infected and corrupted not only the land, but the people there as well. 

The Elements had had enough. Gotham was a liability now, and they plotted to wipe the city from the face of the Earth. So one year, they converged upon the city. A tornado, torrential rainfall, wildfires, and earthquakes, all within the span of a week. Gotham would crumble, and the Malevolence would face a huge setback. 

But then, something happened. 

At 1:35am on November 11th, the eve of the Destruction of Gotham, there was the cry of a newly born child with downy black hair, olive skin, deep blue eyes, and a heart that promised to be pure. His mother, a kind woman tired from her labour, named him Richard, after her own loving father. 

His father, a sillier man, immediately called his new son Dick, and was told off by his wife and various nurses. 

The cries of the newborn sang to the Elements, so they watched the new infant squalling and doing his first shit in his father's arms, and were immediately smitten. 

What a cutie, Earth said. 

A pure child, Air concurred. Incorruptible.

He is Hope, Water crooned. 

He has the potential to be the Spark, Fire said, that will one day end the Malevolence that has taken root in Gotham. 

Potential only, Water said, softly. Unless of course...

Fire perked up. What, sister?

...we meddle. 

Hoo hoo hoo, Air said. Let's do.

And so the Elements meddled in the life of Dick Grayson, aged 0 years, 0 months, 0 days, and 0.5 hours.

He will be grounded and stand firm in his morals, Earth blessed Dick. He will draw all animals towards himself, and they shall love him. 

He shall learn to fly, and watch over those he loves from high up, Air blessed him. He will make his home in the skies.

He shall bring light to all that he touches, Fire blessed him. He shall burn Malevolence with the heat of his passion and love. 

He shall be cooling, Water blessed him, and heal the burns and wash away the detritus left by Malevolence. 

Dick received these blessings, and cooed. He grew up to become the beloved of all, vanquisher of Malevolence in all its forms. 

And he knew naught about it. Dick Grayson was just living his best life, and that was just fine. 

***

Damian shut his investigative notebook and released a deep breath. He had been right all along. Grayson was a man of great power, and would be the one to bring balance to Gotham. With all his power, Grayson was still human, Damian pondered. Still a creature of flesh and blood and warmth and love, which Damian was continuously the recipient of. 

It made him ridiculously smug. 

"Dami, I made you some cookies, get them while they're warm!" Dick's voice chimed from the kitchen, followed by a stern, "No, Jay, the heart shaped ones are for Dami!"

"Oh my god, Dick, you rabid hen," Jason complained, and took a normal, round cookie instead. 

Damian tucked his tome of magic under his arm, and slid into the kitchen, where Dick was trying to trick Tim into eating a healthy oatmeal raising cookie by lying about infusing it with coffee grounds. Upon seeing Damian come in, Dick smiled beatifically and gave him a heart shaped cookie. It did not escape Damian that the moment Dick smiled, the sun broke through the layer of dark clouds outside.

"Are you studying your magic, Dami?" Dick asked, puttering around and setting breakfast out. "How are your lessons with Raven going?" 

"They are very informative," Damian said. "I am studying the History of Magic, and I am learning a lot."

"That's so nice," Dick said, smiling, and Damian smiled back, soaking in the warmth of his words. And it was all for him. "When you see Raven today, make sure to take her some cookies, okay? She likes oatmeal raisin."

"For truly, she is a demon," Jason said, shuddering. 

Damian did as he was told, making sure to kick Jason for insulting his mentor.

***

Damian handed Raven the cookies after his class was over, and looked at his Dark Mistress. She looked like she always did - grey and petite, belying a power that far surpassed his tiny frame. A demoness of nightmares, but still best friends with Dick the sentient blob of sunshine. 

"How long have you known?" Damian found himself asking. Raven looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. "About Grayson," he clarified. 

For all that she looked like a young woman, Raven's eyes grew distant and brimmed with power. "Since the beginning," she said. "We were there, the demons, witness to the birth of the Elements of this dimension. We have our own version of the Elements, you see. Your dimension and its magic is very young. So when I met Dick, I knew."

"He will end the Malevolence in Gotham," Damian said. "But he is just one man. Just...Grayson."

"He is enough," Raven said shortly. 

"I am going to protect him," Damian said determinedly, "come what may. Should we not tell Grayson of the work that he has to do?"

Raven looked at her young charge. This boy born of anger, rage, and deceit, now vowing to protect his most treasured brother so selflessly. She smiled. "He has already started."

"Eh?"

Raven just smiled.


End file.
